Skoobe launches

The Skoobe mobile library, a joint venture between Arvato, Verlagsgruppe Random House and the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group opened its virtual shelves to the public today (February 29).

The e-book library gives readers an entirely new way to access the world of electronic books. Its users don’t buy individual e-books, but become members of a steadily growing mobile library, from which they can check out the latest bestsellers such as “Hothouse Flower” by Lucinda Riley, much-discussed works of nonfiction like Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, and classics like Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” and immediately read them on their smartphone or tablet. As part of a limited introductory offer, the first 10,000 members can check out and read as many e-books as they want (per month) for a monthly fee of 9.99 EUR, until the end of 2012. Skoobe is open to e-books from all publishers.